‘Splinterheads’ a carnival of laughs (3.5/5)

Splinterheads

Starring: Thomas Middleditch, Rachael Taylor, Dean Winters
Directed by: Brant Sersen
Rating: R for language including sexual references, and brief drug use.
Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes.

“Splinterheads” is a quirky, indie romantic comedy without a lot of recognition.

As the trailer proclaims, it’s a simple story. Justin Frost (Thomas Middleditch in his first feature film performance), who mows lawns with his best friend and lives with his mother, has no direction and no ambition. That is, until he meets Galaxy (an awesome Rachael Taylor), a girl who is just as interesting as her name would suggest. She is a splinterhead who works for a traveling carnival that has set up in Justin’s town.

What is a splinterhead, you may be wondering? Galaxy explains that they’re the hard workers of the carnival biz. The ones who don’t make a cent unless they can wheedle you into spending your money on trifles and games. And boy, is she good at it.

Galaxy is a girl of adventure, and Justin gets a firsthand taste of that when he gets stuck going on a geocaching hike with her. Unlike Justin, Galaxy has many directions — helped along by her GPS system that leads her to geocaches, small containers that hold personal items. She’s fun. She’s independent. She’s everything Justin is not. And, as with any romantic comedy, Justin finds himself falling for Galaxy only to be thwarted along the way.

One of his biggest obstacles is Reggie, Galaxy’s uncouth, splinterhead boyfriend. Played by the oddly-good-at-being-a-bully Dean Winters, Reggie’s role in the carnival is the mean clown of “Dunk the Punk” who baits sad saps like Justin into spending their money in an attempt to, well, dunk the punk. And this clown doesn’t take very kindly to Justin warming up to his girlfriend.

There’s no doubt that the offbeat characters are what make this movie so funny. Spend five minutes in the motor home with the carnival’s magician, The Amazing Steve, and his assistant, Wyoming, and you may not stop laughing (in fact, any scene with these two is simply hilarious).

Other notable performances include Lea Thompson (of “Back to the Future” fame) as Justin’s mother Susan; Pamela Shaw as Justin’s aunt, the lust-driven Betty Frost; Brendan McFeat Burke as Reggie’s bald, mean-spirited sidekick, Thad; Jason Rogel as Justin’s best friend, Wayne Chung (yes, you read that right); and Romulus’ own Christopher McDonald as Susan’s love-sick, on-again-off-again boyfriend, Sergeant Bruce Mancuso.

But with so many interesting and funny cast members, it’s hard just to focus on a few, so most of them end up being shells of what they could be under a more capable directorial staff or with a longer running time. The movie tries to pass off this underdevelopment as the kind of single-aspect mockeries that other comedies use, but it never really feels right.

It doesn’t help that Galaxy tells Justin that he doesn’t know her, and he doesn’t know Reggie. But then the opportunity is dropped. No, we don’t know her, and no, we don’t really understand why she was attracted to Reggie. The movie’s job is to explain that to us, but they focus more on individual antics that are borne of each characters’ “stereotypical” role than in trying to connect the audience to the characters.

With its language and fairly shallow plot, this movie is geared more toward teenagers and those in their early- to mid-20s, but any who can appreciate “Splinterhead’s” bizarre, and at times crass, humor will walk away happy to have found this indie flick. Don’t expect something deep, but do go in expecting to laugh.

I’m kind of in the mood to go to a carnival now.

3.5 of 5 stars